Seattle Sounders Homegrown Player Henry Wingo earned his first minutes on Saturday in a 1-1 friendly draw with the Portland Timbers in Tucson, Ariz., and he made quite the impression.
Wingo started the second half in defensive midfield in head coach Brian Schmetzer’s 4-2-3-1 formation and held his own against a Portland side featuring many of its first team regulars. The Seattle native and University of Washington product is still a work in progress, but Schmetzer is excited about Wingo’s potential.
“[Fellow Homegrown Player] Seyi Adekoya and Henry are really good, they’ve got some good starting points,” Schmetzer said on Monday. “They’re both physically gifted in the fact that they have a ton of speed.
“[They still] need to learn about playing with good passers like [Nicolas Lodeiro] and [Clint Dempsey] and [Osvaldo Alonso] and some of those guys,” he continued, “but once they get their movement without the ball down, they’ll be hopefully very effective members of the team.”
The Sounders played an 8-v-8 scrimmage Monday morning just to keep loose ahead of their Tuesday scrimmage against the San Jose Earthquakues (9:30 a.m. PT; SoundersFC.com). Wingo and Dempsey were on the same team, and Schmetzer tried to communicate to Wingo the importance of running off the ball. If he does that, either Dempsey will find him on a through ball or the space he leaves behind will clear Dempsey for a good look on goal.
“Every time you step on the field with these guys, you learn new things,” said Wingo. “The pace of the game, you always have to be prepared to play [quickly] and have your mind made up before you get the ball. On defense, staying organized and working with the guys around you and making sure you have everything sorted out. You always have to be tuned in.”
Schmetzer is concerned with making sure the younger players adapt to the “nuances” of playing at the senior level. Once they figure that out, the game will slow down and allow them to be avid contributors.
“[I want to learn to] play at the pace that these guys play with, with no problems,” Wingo said. “Every time I step on the field, [I want to] be more comfortable, and I think that will come with the more minutes I play with them, the more time I spend on the training ground with them. Just building chemistry with my teammates and integrating myself into this team.”
